Running water runs up big bill at Lafayette house

LAFAYETTE – City officials are discussing what to do with a $19,000 utility and services bill created at least in part by a valve next to a water meter that was left open while a house was being winterized after it went through foreclosure proceedings about a year ago.

Running water in a house on the 500 block of 11th Street got about 16 inches high in the basement before running into a toilet and into the sewer, which saved the home from further damage, according to Lafayette Utility and Maintenance Superintendent Al Fox.

City officials believe a contractor or subcontractor left the water valve open in the home. More than 2 million gallons of water was estimated to have run through the home’s water meter before a resident in the neighborhood of the foreclosed home told Fox about it.